Gemini000 wrote:

WolverineDK wrote:

The other one is this, when you talked about the pinball table, where you said "it is like they are merging video games and pinball games". And then I could not smile a bit funny. Since aren't pinball games on a computer/console and so forth "video games" ? 😉

Oh trust me, the irony of that particular line was not lost on me when I wrote it into my script and it helps to highlight just how fundamentally different pinball is from digital games. 😉

It was a splendid episode 😀 And that is the truth, and well your show has begun to grow on me in a good way 😀 Keep it up 😀

While we are on the subject of pinball games, I played a pinball game on my dad's mac called Loony Labyrinth. I also had a shareware copy of Crystal Caliburn. You can still download "modern" copies of the exact same game as the company is still in business. In fact they have realeased both mac and windows versions: http://www.littlewingpinball.com/doc/en/downloads/index.html

I was wondering if anyone else had played these or if they were "more accurate" to the real pinball experience.

Did you talk about that wacko 90's-era pinball controller for the PC? You'd be remiss if you didn't! What was that called... think it was by Logitech.
[EDIT] Nope, Thrustmaster. Rated one of the worst PC gaming peripherals of all time by Computer Gaming World magazine.
http://www.cyberg8t.com/f2comp/prodwiz.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sbuuPB-zUI

I only vaguely remembered that thing. I had no idea what it was called or who made it so I didn't bother looking up details about it.

...still not entirely sure if it's worth mentioning or not in the additional info section though. I mean, Epic Pinball doesn't even allow you to do proper sideways nudges. :P

Nice review of my favourite pinball game 😀

I noticed the animation was very choppy, though. Is that because my Pentium 4 can't keep up or did you record it at 30fps or so?

Also I'm pretty sure the sideways nudges do work, but the animation is the same for the upwards nudge which is a bit confusing. Try holding the ball on one flipper and pressing the sideway nudge buttons, the ball will actually move to the intended side. I haven't been able to pull off those tricks you mentioned with it, but it is most useful to prevent the ball from going down the side lanes.

Aaaand.. I didn't hear you mention that the game was programmed entirely in assembly 😉

jwt27 wrote:

I noticed the animation was very choppy, though. Is that because my Pentium 4 can't keep up or did you record it at 30fps or so?

I had to down-convert the footage to 29.97 FPS for web uploading. 'tis the nature of online video. :P

jwt27 wrote:

Also I'm pretty sure the sideways nudges do work, but the animation is the same for the upwards nudge which is a bit confusing. Try holding the ball on one flipper and pressing the sideway nudge buttons, the ball will actually move to the intended side. I haven't been able to pull off those tricks you mentioned with it, but it is most useful to prevent the ball from going down the side lanes.

Actually, I did indeed test that out while writing the script to ensure I wasn't just talking nonsense. Every nudge key had the exact same effects while holding the ball on a flipper and during different tests with different easy-to-reach positions on some of the boards. :P

It can FEEL like the nudges are acting differently when testing though by sheer coincidence, since the timing on the physics is incredibly bad. When I first tried a right nudge while testing this, the ball went FLYING towards the edge of the flipper. Subsequent attempts to right nudge didn't do this. Eventually, I managed to get a forwards nudge to achieve the exact same effect.

One way you can tell sideways nudging isn't doing what it's supposed to is that if the ball is travelling straight up or down a lane and you perform a sideways nudge, ball velocity isn't affected at all like it should be. :P

jwt27 wrote:

Aaaand.. I didn't hear you mention that the game was programmed entirely in assembly ;)

I was thinking about mentioning it... I had a reason why I didn't but I can't remember it right now. *shrugs*

I wish more online video streaming sites embraced 60fps. It's the '10s and we don't have motion to keep up with decades worth of televisions, ffs. The wait for online video to stop being 10-15fps and 160x120-320x240 (AT BEST) was long enough.

Gemini000 wrote:

I had to down-convert the footage to 29.97 FPS for web uploading. 'tis the nature of online video. 😜

Aww, too bad. It really doesn't do the smooth animation in this game any justice 🙁

Gemini000 wrote:

Actually, I did indeed test that out while writing the script to ensure I wasn't just talking nonsense. Every nudge key had the exact same effects while holding the ball on a flipper and during different tests with different easy-to-reach positions on some of the boards. 😜

It can FEEL like the nudges are acting differently when testing though by sheer coincidence, since the timing on the physics is incredibly bad. When I first tried a right nudge while testing this, the ball went FLYING towards the edge of the flipper. Subsequent attempts to right nudge didn't do this. Eventually, I managed to get a forwards nudge to achieve the exact same effect.

Weird, when I try that the ball always moves in the direction of the nudge (space = up, / = left, Z = right). The force of a nudge seems completely random, but the direction is very consistent.

You know... it could be a version thing. My copy is v2.1. I wasn't the one who installed it originally so I have no idea if that's the version it came as or if it was patched. It's one of several games from the early 90s I only still have because of backups, as there was a period of time between roughly 1991 and 1994 when I was terrible at losing things I had only just got, so both my mother and I routinely backed stuff up until stuff started coming on CD and was too big to back up onto floppy disks.

A hard drive crash in 2000 (Quantum Fireball 10 GB drive that was only 9 months old) basically served as the catalyst to get a CD-RW drive since I lost a TON of work when that happened. >_<;

Ancient DOS Games Filler #36 - Patreon is online!

Yup, I finally got this thing set up. Mind you, I don't think a lot of content creators using Patreon are using Blip since there seems to be a bug with Blip and the front-page embed for showing introductory videos. Hopefully this doesn't affect content uploads, but I'll find out as I start linking all my videos into the thing tomorrow. :P

I do want to stress though that Ancient DOS Games will ALWAYS be free to watch! The whole point of being on Patreon is specifically for anyone who wants to support the show beyond simply watching it and telling people about it. It's entirely optional, will always remain entirely optional, and I don't want anyone to feel bad about not adding that extra bit of support if they don't want to or can't for whatever reason. Just the fact that I have nearly 2000 regular viewers now across Blip and YouTube combined is amazing enough and it means a heck of a lot more to me that people watch and enjoy the show than give me money. :)

I also did indeed figure out some milestones and rewards too for anyone who decides to become a Patron of the show. Any of you who're curious can check out my new Patreon page here: http://www.patreon.com/kasick

Stiletto wrote:

Did you talk about that wacko 90's-era pinball controller for the PC? You'd be remiss if you didn't! What was that called... thi […]
Show full quote

Did you talk about that wacko 90's-era pinball controller for the PC? You'd be remiss if you didn't! What was that called... think it was by Logitech.
[EDIT] Nope, Thrustmaster. Rated one of the worst PC gaming peripherals of all time by Computer Gaming World magazine.
http://www.cyberg8t.com/f2comp/prodwiz.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sbuuPB-zUI

It looks like Clint recently got one in the mail, so hopefully we'll see it in a future Oddware LGR episode.

I think that there is nothing wrong with a pinball controller, its just so obvious. Perhaps the controller would have been better received had it not shipped with a poor game like Royal Flush.

I have noted some missing notes at times with a Gravis Ultrasound, but the sound quality with an Ultrasound is obviously superior to any Sound Blaster in the games that support it well, including Epic Pinball, Star Control II, Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions. It is kind of a tradeoff.

Ancient DOS Games Filler #37 - Nostalgia Trip: Inserts is online! :)

Yeah, this mostly turned into a manual-fest, but there's a bunch of other things too. This is only a fraction of all the stuff I have too, but was the most relevant since some of the inserts I have are hard to get nostalgic about, like those technical information and safety things that came with every single copy of every console game ever made in the 80s and 90s. There's so many copies of those things it's just not that nostalgic. :P

And yeah, the King's Quest Hint Book wasn't technically an insert but I just HAD to show that thing! ;D

...long since lost the red filter thingy for it though. :/

I did a video on the Space Quest 3 pack-ins, Sierra really brought the thunder back then!

Gemini000 wrote:

Ancient DOS Games Filler #37 - Nostalgia Trip: Inserts is online! 😀

Installalation, like Install Elation.

Leave Pinball Builder for a filler.

You should go through that hint book and see if there are any worth commenting on or how helpful the hints actually are.

My favorite manual is the one for Lightspeed / Hyperspeed since it gives technical information about how the ship works. This was done for the find a word copy protection but it is an interesting read.

Another notable insert that was a result of find a word copy protection is the back story novel for Weird Dreams. Some chapters were quite long.
Chapter 13 is a single sentence. "It was excellent pasta."

Sometimes a publisher failed to consider the size when adding an insert. Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate came with an issue of Warhammer Monthly which was 1/4" taller than the box. Because of this the magazine would come out bent and creased.

My favorite manuals are Starflight and Homeworld, as the both have cool detailed backstories about humans on a planet unexpectedly finding remains of spaceships that their ancestors used to travel there.

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

Installalation, like Install Elation. […]
Show full quote

Gemini000 wrote:

Ancient DOS Games Filler #37 - Nostalgia Trip: Inserts is online! 😀

Installalation, like Install Elation.

Leave Pinball Builder for a filler.

You should go through that hint book and see if there are any worth commenting on or how helpful the hints actually are.

My favorite manual is the one for Lightspeed / Hyperspeed since it gives technical information about how the ship works. This was done for the find a word copy protection but it is an interesting read.

Another notable insert that was a result of find a word copy protection is the back story novel for Weird Dreams. Some chapters were quite long.
Chapter 13 is a single sentence. "It was excellent pasta."

Sometimes a publisher failed to consider the size when adding an insert. Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate came with an issue of Warhammer Monthly which was 1/4" taller than the box. Because of this the magazine would come out bent and creased.

The revealed Sierra hint books, most of them, can be found here : http://www.sierragamers.com/

Wing Commander, as part of its copy protection, included four large blueprints of the ships you could fly in the game with various technical information.

Hey, if you want to review one of those games. Then do NOT review Cobra Mission, cause as far as I am aware off. Then Cobra Mission is either a hentai game or just as naughty. If I recall correctly.

I can censor stuff if it turns out to be adultastic. :B

I think your adult standard disclaimer would be sufficient, although I can't imagine who under the age of 18 would be watching a show about ancient DOS games, many of which would have been released before they were born.